


Well, look at what well-meant did

by EponineTheStrange (gallifreyandglowclouds)



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 04:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/pseuds/EponineTheStrange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: no good deed goes unpunished</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well, look at what well-meant did

_New York, August 2012_

She’s already texted him twice, and she feels like a bit of an idiot wandering around in her hotel room with her dress half-off. He said that he was talking to someone, and that he’d be up in a second. 

Finally there’s a knock on the door, and there he is, dapper as all get out, and she turns around he he helps her with her dress.

“Calling mum?” Karen says jokingly. 

“No,” he says.

“Then who were you talking to?” 

He pauses. “Daisy.” 

“Oh,” Karen says, and she’s honestly not sure how she feels about that, because she thought that Matt and Daisy were done for good for some reason, and for some reason she feels instinctively possessive of Matt whenever she thinks about him being in relationships with other people. “You guys going to give it another try?” 

“Yeah,” he says, and fiddles a bit with the clasp at the top of her dress. “I don’t know how things will go, but I don’t know, if the feelings are still there, you might as well give it a try, right?” 

“Yeah,” Karen says, forcing her voice to be artificially cheerful. “May as well. I think Arthur and Alex are waiting, so we’d better head downstairs.” 

* * *

The premiere is the worst kind of torture that Karen could ever possibly imagine. Matt does the stupid arm-around-the-waist thing, which always makes her a little flustered, and his leg presses in to hers during the actual  _Asylum of the Daleks_ screening. 

All this time, she was pretty sure that he had feelings for her, because how else is she supposed to interpret half the things he says and the fact that they spend so much non-work time together, even when they were ostensibly with other people. 

And then what the fuck happened in Spain? Well, nothing happened in Spain. They cuddled in her hotel room and she woke up in his arms and somewhere through the haze of her hangover she thought that she might like to make this a regular thing. 

Well, that isn’t going to happen. 

She rants to Arthur about it when the two of them go to get coffee and bagels without Matt because he was sleeping and wouldn’t pick up his phone. 

“Do you think the timing’s a coincidence?” He asks her as they make their way south on Amsterdam back to the hotel. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, think about it. Matt and Daisy couldn’t make things work while you guys were working together,” Arthur says. “And now, maybe because you’re going, she’s got a bit more confidence that they can make things work and he’s willing to go back for whatever reason - I’m not going to speculate on that one.” 

“Maybe,” Karen says. 

“Oh, you red-headed temptress you.” 

She elbows him for that one, which makes him spill his coffee all over the sidewalk. 

* * *

The conversation with Arthur straightens things out a little bit for Karen, and instead of feeling angry at Matt, she doesn’t feel anything. (Or rather, she pretends not to feel anything, and shoves all her emotions in to a little box 

She’s still got the crush, but that can be handled. When she goes to Los Angeles, she goes and does not look back, and she figures that in a way, she’s doing Matt some kind of twisted favour by not getting in touch - she’s saving his relationship, because apparently, she’s too much temptation and if Matt wants to make it work with Daisy, he can’t have that. 

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_Los Angeles, March 2013_

Karen’s been doing all in her power to filter out  _Doctor Who_ things, mostly because she doesn’t want to keep up with what Matt’s doing, because then she’d had to hear about his personal life and then she’d have to acknowledge that she really cares about him and regrets that their friendship has disintegrated to this point. 

But then that damn Nerdist interview happens and she wants to fucking hit something, because that entire interview magically ends up being about her and it turns out that all that struggle, all of that boxing off of emotions has been for nought because he’s still got feelings for her and she’s guessing that things haven’t worked out with Daisy (though she won’t speculate as to why). 

So she calls him up and doesn’t realise (but mostly doesn’t care) that it’s stupidly early in the morning. 

He picks up the phone on the first ring, which is when Karen starts thinking that all of this is part of some master plan that Matt’s dreamed up. 

“Howdy stranger,” he says. “Long time no talk.” 

She literally has no tolerance for pleasantries at this point in time. “So, I saw that interview you did with Chris.” 

“Yup, what about it?” 

Now he’s forced her in to a place where she has to confess that she’s been an idiot. And she has been stupid, but she has been stupid for his sake and she’s still mad that it’s all been for nothing. 

“Matt, do you remember New York last fall?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And you zipped up my dress, but you were late because you were talking to someone on the phone and that person was Daisy?” 

“Yes. What are you getting at, Kaz?” 

She sighs, a little frustrated. “You said that you were going to give things with Daisy another try. Did you?”

“Yes,” he says, and laughs a little. “We did, briefly. But things between Daisy and I are - well, they’re dysfunctional to put it quite lightly. It’s over, and now I think it’s over for good.” 

“I was frustrated about that, about you getting back with Daisy.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I have serious  _feelings_ for you, Matt, and I thought you had feelings for me back.” 

“… oh.” He doesn’t sound overly surprised and Karen doesn’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. 

“So, I talked about the whole phone-call-with-Daisy situation with Arthur the next morning, and he thought that the reason you guys got back together now was because I was going, and you or her or someone was worried about the temptation because you had feelings for me, and then I made the decision that the best thing that I could do for the two of you was just leave and let you guys have your little bit of happy in peace.” 

“Right,” he says, “so that explains why you haven’t been calling. But what does this have to do with the interview?” 

“I thought I was doing you a favour by leaving,” she says, voice trembling, “and tonight, I think I just realised that it was all for nought.”

“Because…”

“You made that whole thing about me, Matt! Every time Chris tried to bring the subject around to how things are going with Jenna, you’d just go ‘Karen this’ and ‘Karen that’. And that means I failed! I tried to do something good for you and not good for me and I failed and I feel like crap and I’m mad.” 

“Kaz,” Matt says, and his voice is dangerously even, “your leaving wasn’t going to fix things with Daisy, but I guess in a weird sort of way… thanks?” 

“You’re welcome,” she says, and there’s a tiredness settling in to her bones but she feels lighter now that she’s having this conversation with Matt. “I just had to put away all of these things that I felt about you, and, well, you know, that doesn’t go away easily.”

“Well, you don’t have to sho ve those feelings away any more,” Matt says, “and know that they’re reciprocated.”

“Wow.” Of all the ways that she had predicted this conversation going, this was not one of them. 

“You’re coming back in a few months, right?” He asks.

“Yeah, beginning of May.”  

“Let’s hang out like we used to,” Matt says. “And hey, other things might happen too. You never know, Kazza.” He laughs. 

“Well,” Karen says, “I’m a sucker for other things.” 

“Right, well, I’m going back to sleep now.” 

“Love you, Matt.” 

“Love you too, Kaz.” 

He hangs up and she’s left with dial tone, and the weight in her chest that’s been like a rock since August has switched itself to a ball of giddiness that makes her want to get up and dance around the room and squeal like a little girl. 

She does. She breaks a lamp. It’s fine, though. 


End file.
